"An Attack is Not Taking Place"

"The Day Called X" is a beautiful little piece of ephemera. Made for CBS around 1957, it shows Portland in her... umm... "not so freshest" days. "Out of fashion" buildings were being or had been demolished in the throes of early urban planning and the city had very little character at this period.

I really dig that he uses the phrase "shining the pumper."

I also noticed that the shoulder patch for the Portland Police Bureau has remained pretty much unchanged since the time this was filmed.

Just before the 15:00 mark, there's some really cool footage of the old Morrison Bridge.
If you can get past the "Banshee wail of the siren," that seems endless in the first few minutes, this is really cool.

Kelley Butte, the location of the underground city hall, is definitely on my list. I tried real hard to find it a few years ago via tri-met and on foot, but failed. 103rd! Not a whole lot to see, but still worth the trip.

Check out Cyclotram, where I found the Kelley Butte info and discovered a really awesome new daily visit. Thanks!

Culture shocked

Two days of work seemed like an entire week as I'm still reeling from a week in Indiana. Things were so much sadder and browner than I remember, being accustomed to the green northwest.

Tonight a friend mentioned that she didn't know her childhood home's state song, or flower, or tree, or rock, or any of these things that I always took for granted that everyone just knew.

As I flew from O'Hare I had a whole row to myself, so for 32 minutes I was able to slouch, but just couldn't resist the window seat, having driven that same route we were flying enough times that I can spell "Rensselaer" without a second thought, and know all about the "dogleg" (which I see has been renamed I-865 after 32 years confusion.)

From above, I picked out the Wabash River, and thought about Indiana's state song, On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away. The goddamn state song is about having left the state...
What does this say about us?

'Round my Indiana homesteads wave the cornfields,
In the distance loom the woodlands clear and cool.
Oftentimes my thoughts revert to scenes of childhood,
Where I first received my lessons, nature's school.
But one thing there is missing in the picture,
Without her face it seems so incomplete.
I long to see my mother in the doorway,
As she stood there years ago, her boy to greet.

Oh, the moonlight's fair tonight along the Wabash,
From the fields there comes the breath of newmown hay.
Through the sycamores the candle lights are gleaming,
On the banks of the Wabash, far away.

Sorry to get all cheesy and Garrison on ya'll, but this year's trip home was long weird one.

Back to PDX

I've made it out of Indiana successfully once again. Now back in Portland, I'm trapped inside even though it looks like a beautiful day out there. The luggage didn't make it out of SFO, so I'm waiting around for luggage delivery dude to show.
Luckily I came home to find two big ol' blocks of the aged Tillamook, and a tub o' homemade fudge courtesy of G's Mom.

I planned on
spending my day off work taking a leisurely walk, re-acquainting myself with the city even though I was only gone a week. I really wanted to go get a slice of Hot Lips Pizza, but alas, I was stuck with my own creation of Trader Joe's frozen pizza with aforementioned aged cheddar and some summer sausage (also courtesy of G's mom).

45 minutes of White Christmas

It came in just under the wire, but at 11:15pm Christmas night, the snow started flying. Its right around midnight, and its letting up a bit, but we made it. Just enough to officially call it a White Christmas, at least up here on our ridge. I think it was pretty scattered around Southern Indiana, but I'm psyched, as long as there's no delayed flights Tuesday, my Christmas booty and I need to be getting back to Portland post haste.
This has been one of the best trips back home for Christmas in a long time, but I'm ready to get out of the boonies, back to my beautiful Portland, my broadband connection, and especially my G. I miss ya a lot buddy. See you tomorrow night, I'll call you from San Fran.

Merry Christmas from 625-E

Ever since I've left home, our Christmas mornings have been a little less than "traditional..."
We tend to do our gift exchange sometime around 1 or 2 am Christmas morning due to Mom & Dad's weird sleep schedules, and my remaining on PST the whole time I'm in Indiana.
I have to share that obligatory "kid at christmas" picture that my Mom has taken of me every year as long as I can remember.



Happy Holidays everyone!

Not as slow as I thought

At least if I wait until late enough at night. Made it out for a good ol' time in the backwoods this afternoon. The weather was perfect, the lighting was nice, and even with dad's older camera I still got some awesome shots Check my Flickr page for the whole set. Merry Christmas ya'll!

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Photos are out of the question for the moment as I'm blogging from my childhood home on Haney Ridge instead of from Sellwood Street tonight. I've been back home again in Indiana now for a few days, enjoying the solitude of the country, catching up with folks I haven't seen in a year, or in some cases people I haven't seen in five years. I promise there'll be some photos to come of my Indiana adventures once I get back to Portland and my broadband. Dad just got a new camera I've gotta go try out.
Luckily I somehow scored a rental SUV (one of the tiny ones at least) so there's been a little muddin' going on. I can't wait to see the Hertz guys' faces as I pull up to return the thing on Tuesday. I made the drive into Bloomington yesterday only using about three miles of actual state highway. Even after five years away, I still know Greenetucky county roads intimately.
Tomorrow after church (sigh, it is christmas, and it makes Mom happy), I plan on making it out to the Viaduct (as we call it locally, it is officially known as the Tulip Trestle) to take some pictures and splash around on some of the shittiest excuses for roads I can think of. There's also a couple of my favorite abandoned houses out around Mineral & Koleen. I need to see if they're still standing. Oh, and the Crane Village school, I almost forgot about that... Should be a hoot.
Well, better start publishing this post, go open another Upland Dragonfly IPA, and maybe by the time I'm finished with it, this post will be online.